Ethics · Society · Theology · Mission · Sociology of Religions
Dramatic attacks by the Islamic terrorist group Ahlu Sunnah wa Jamaa (ASWJ) in late March killed hundreds of people in northern Mozambique and have forced thousands to flee, according to reports from local sources.
The German newsletter on persecution of Christians of the International Society for Human Rights has endorsed your German yearbooks on religious freedom and on the persecution and discrimination of Christians. It also quotes in length from my advocacy for the unguilty improsined former major of Jakarta, „Ahok“.
At this landmark event with more than a thousand listeners the questions posed were, is religion an instigator or a peacemaker in conflicts and pisions in society? To address such issues, religious leaders from various faiths and scholars joined to explore the depths of history, theology and politics.
Thomas Schirrmacher, Director of the International Institute for Religious Freedom (IIRF), testified in the British House of Lords in a meeting between Parliamentarians from the UK and from all over Latin America.
One of two Christian governors of Indonesia, the governor of Jakarta and therewith the most important Christian politician of the country, Tjahaja Purnamas, briefly called ‘Ahok’, was not permitted to stand for his sure re-election, because there was a case of blasphemy pendent against him. The sole reason for this commotion – in this friend and foe agree – was not the concern about god or a holy book, but rather the prevention of his re-election.
After “Manchester,” there was complete silence in the British media and within British politics about the fact that the perpetrators and those who took responsibility for the act of terror invoked Islam. It is a worthy aim to have the desire to prevent innocent individuals, in this case Muslims around the world, from being thrown into a maelstrom where they are prejudged. However, this is certainly not how the problems will be solved.
“The secular state must equally guarantee freedom of religion for freedom loving Muslims and use its monopoly on the use of force to suppress those Islamists who are enemies of freedom of religion.”